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Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars are perfect for your Thanksgiving dessert buffet. Or wait until after the holiday, and use leftover cranberry sauce to make them for your holiday cookie exchange in December.

Thanksgiving Recipes

Besides recipes for Thanksgiving Day, you’ll want recipes for Thanksgiving leftovers! At Chez Berg, turkey tetrazzini and turkey sandwiches are a given, but by day three, I need some inspiration. If you happened to buy an extra can of whole berry cranberry sauce, though, I can help. You’ll love these cranberry cream cheese bars!

Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars

This is the time of year to stock up on canned pumpkin, an extra turkey for your freezer, and cranberry sauce. With sales rampant, it just makes sense. One the few fruits native to North America, the cranberry, is nearly always associated with Thanksgiving dinner.

When my parents would visit for the holiday, I’d always grab a can of cranberry sauce, my dad’s preference…while my mom and I favored the freshly ground relish, which also graced our table. But sitting on our lazy susan, behind a cupboard door, that can of jelled cranberries would often get forgotten due to all the craziness in the kitchen. These cranberry cheesecake bars can help take care of any leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving!

So if you have a memory lapse like me or spot an extra can in your pantry, I hope you’ll try this Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars dessert recipe.

An oatmeal crust is topped with a cheesecake-like layer, followed by slightly sweetened cranberry sauce and an oat streusel. Sounds divine, doesn’t it?

Tips for Making Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars:

I love making layered bar cookies. They’re an ideal way to serve a crowd with very little effort. One-pan can serve 24 people if you cut the dessert into 4 bars across the short side, then 6 bars across the long side.

To make these bars easy to release from the pan, line it with non-stick aluminum foil. The foil will act as a sling and you can remove the bars to a cutting board for easier slicing.

To make nice even layers, I use a flat bottomed meat mallet or measuring cup to smooth out the surface after patting the crust into the pan with my fingers.

Then I use an offset spatula to smooth the sauce and cheesecake layers.

Have your butter and cream cheese at room temperature for the best results. Both will be much easier to incorporate if not cold from the refrigerator.

Set these cranberry cheesecake bars out on the counter at least an hour before you begin baking. If you need to help them along, gently microwave for just 15-20 seconds. Remove the foil wrap on the cream cheese first.

Lizzy, I love all your desserts. This one doesn’t disappoint. We always forget to bring out one or two things when we have everyone over. Many times it’s the jellied cranberry sauce. Happy Thanksgiving! Annamaria

You already know I’m going to tell you I love this, especially since a cheesecake no-bake bar I made yesterday went horribly awry. Well, I LOVE these. Such clean cuts! Definitely a level of patience I’m still working up to 😉

What pretty bars, Liz. I do love cranberries but for us (as we sadly don’t have Thanksgiving), it’s all about Christmas. I’m hoping to be able to buy frozen cranberries (no such thing as fresh) so I can make my own cranberry sauce xx